Dudley, the sweet stuffed sheep, discovers inner strength and courage in this delightfully dark children’s storybook. I truly enjoyed the rhythm of the poetic tale that pulls the reader through, word by word. Author Patrick Algermissen holds nothing back, letting darkness and fear come through in a surprisingly enjoyable way. I quite imagine this to be a very entertaining storytime read in my brother’s first grade classroom, where I have donated this gorgeous book. Continue reading “Review: Dudley and the Toy Keeper’s Chest”
You will hear a lot about the local area in this blog. This particular post is about a wonderful town across the Columbia River from mine, Cascade Locks, Oregon. This community hosted city-wide yard & garage sales this past weekend.
I also picked up some older books. There was a copy of Wuthering Heights, because, hey, you can’t have too many copies, am I right? I snagged the Bracebridge Hall book because I loved the cover. Yes, I judge books by their covers, but that’s a longer conversation for another post, I’m afraid. The Faulkner, O’Neil & Steinbeck book is from a Nobel Prize collection set. It’s older, and it has beautiful color illustrations in it.
My first book-specific memory comes from a very special Christmas when my grandmother purchased the Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Jean Wilder. I had already read all of these books by age 8, struggling to understand some of the more grown-up concepts of love, marriage, and tragedy, but devouring them nonetheless. What made them special was the note inside them, hand-penned from my grandmother. It didn’t matter that I had read them. I would read them a hundred times more before they disappeared into the dust like childhood treasures often do, and each time, I would see her handwriting and feel a warmth in my heart that only comes from knowing a grandmother’s love.